From Epicurus to Epictetus: Studies in Hellenistic and Roman Philosophy

Abstract

This book presents eighteen essays on the philosophers and schools of the Hellenistic and Roman periods: Epicureans, Stoics, and Sceptics. The discussion ranges over four centuries of innovative and challenging thought in ethics and politics, psychology, epistemology, and cosmology. The focus is on the distinctive contributions and methodologies of individual thinkers, notably Epicurus, Zeno, Pyrrho, Arcesilaus, Lucretius, Cicero, Seneca, and Epictetus. Placing their philosophy in its cultural context, and considering it in relation to the earlier ideas of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, the author invites readers to imagine themselves choosing between Stoicism and Epicureanism as philosophies of life. All but one of these pieces has been previously published in periodicals or conference volumes, but the author has revised and updated everything, and has also added postscripts to many of the essays.